Docklands gets Marriott hotel
Marriott has joined the hotel boom in Melbourne.
It’s building a new hotel at the Docklands.
Melbourne City Council gave the proposed hotel the green light at its meeting last week.
Councillors approved the 17 storey development which is likely to become an anchor tenant at the Docklands.
Marriott will build a 200 room hotel along with 110 residential apartments.
It will be located on Waterfront Way and will include a ground-floor restaurant.
The project has been on the drawing board for a long time.
Plans for the site were first submitted more than two years ago. But the proposed development ran into a roadblock when it was rejected by the Planning Minister Richard Wynne.
His decision was later upheld by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT)
The council has approved a curved structure which will be close to the retail precinct at Harbour Town.
Council planning chairman Cr Nick Reece said the development would be a major boost to the harbourside suburb of Docklands.
“This will be a real drawcard and get people to Docklands,’’ Cr Reece told the Herald Sun
“It’s a great step forward in the evolution of Docklands, first with the opening of the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel and the new Marriott to come.”
Of course, the development still has to be sent to Planning Minister for final approval.
Significantly, Mr Wynne has approved other hotel developments in Melbourne including 14 hotels from prestigious chains like the Mandarin Oriental and the Shangri-La
The hotel boom in Melbourne is being driven by a shortage of rooms in Australia’s most rapidly growing city.
And the council can’t approve enough hotel developments.
"We can't build hotels fast enough," Lord Mayor Robert Doyle told The Age.
"I'm writing proposals for conferences and conventions for 2022 and 2024. All that requires hotel rooms.”
by Leon Gettler, July 21st 2017
